The plane of Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) suffered an accident on Wednesday near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan. There were 62 passengers and a crew of five on the plane, 29 people survived the accident, some with serious injuries, and the number of fatalities was 38.
An investigation is currently underway; all incidents in aviation must be investigated by specialized authorities. It is wrong to form theories until the results of the investigation are at hand
– stressed Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov. The cause of the accident is not yet known, however, various theories have emerged, including the possibility that the plane may have been hit by an anti-aircraft missile launched in response to a Ukrainian drone attack, given the unusual damage found on the plane’s fuselage. Maulen Asimbayev, the president of the Kazakh Senate, rejected all this as hype and baseless claims.
Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev pointed out that these journalistic speculations and investigations refer to some kind of government sources.
We are in constant contact with our Azeri colleagues. No one has given us any version, we have not received any official version either from Russia or Azerbaijan. Therefore, no version can be refuted
he added. Kazakh Transport Minister Marat Karabayev reported at a press conference on Thursday that the Aktau airport had learned before the plane crashed that an oxygen cylinder had exploded on board, in the passenger compartment, and people had begun to lose consciousness. He said that the airliner tried twice to approach the airport, where everything was prepared to receive it. He added that the air traffic controller took all necessary measures, but they lost contact and the plane crashed. Referring to the information received from the Kazakh air traffic controllers, Karabayev said that the Embraer 190 type plane became uncontrollable due to a failure of a series of systems, and could not reliably maintain the altitude or the direction.
The crew of the plane bound for Grozny, Chechnya, after receiving information about the weather conditions in Makhachkala and Baku, decided to head for Aktau, Kazakhstan. The deputy head of the ministry, Talgat Lastzajev, said that the evaluation of the black boxes will begin on December 27 after the arrival of Brazilian experts, given that the passenger ship was manufactured in Brazil. Abilajbek Ordabayev, the competent prosecutor of Kazakhstan’s Mangistau County, announced that neither Russian nor Azerbaijani law enforcement agencies are involved in the investigation of the air disaster. At the same time, he said that the Kazakh law enforcement agencies conducting the investigation found both of the plane’s black boxes, and interviewed the survivors, ground flight control personnel and possible witnesses. He added that an inspection was also held at the 4,000 square meter site of the accident.
Cover image: It may take several days to investigate the accident of the passenger plane that crashed during an emergency landing in Kazakhstan (Photo: AFP)
Source: magyarnemzet.hu
